The nine contributions to this book arise partly from papers given at an international meeting, organized by the Institute of International Law of the University of Pisa and the Institute of International Affairs of Rome, in Castelgandolfo in May 1986 to discuss legal questions arising from the Achille Lauro hijacking in October 1985. It also contains additional papers discussing the international legal response to that incident, the IMO Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, done at Rome 10 March 1988, which the United Kingdom has recently ratified (implementing the treaty in the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990: see G. Plant [1991] LMCLQ 44). This Convention and its accompanying optional Protocol on Fixed Platforms is an addition to the list of anti-terrorist treaties which seek either the prosecution or the extradition of captured offenders.

The Achille Lauro was hijacked by a group of armed Palestinians who had boarded the ship in Genoa as passengers. They made political demands against Israel and killed a Jewish American passenger before negotiating an agreement off Port Said, to which the Egyptian Government appears to have been privy, whereby they were to be afforded a safe conduct and a flight on an Egyptian airliner to Tunisia in exchange for leaving the ship peacefully. In the event United States military aircraft intercepted this airliner and forced it to land at a U.S. Air Force base in Italy. The terrorists were prosecuted in Italy, and the American passenger’s widow brought suit for compensation against various defendants in the U.S. courts.

The case thus gave rise to a number of interesting legal questions, including: the applicability of piracy iure gentium to acts against a ship not carried out (as is the classic case expressly covered by existing law) by persons originating from another ship or aircraft; the relationship between the international law concerning the use of force by states against other states or insurgents and terrorist acts; the validity of government agreements with terrorists made in order to save hostages’ lives; the legality of intercepting foreign airliners; and the many ques-